Effect of prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy on surgical site wound infection, hematoma, and haemorrhage in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma: A meta‐analysis

We performed a meta‐analysis to evaluate the effect of prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy on surgical site wound infection, hematoma, and haemorrhage in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma. A systematic literature search up to April 2022 was performed and 3517 subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma at the baseline of the studies; 1503 of them were treated with prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy, and 2014 were using total thyroidectomy. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the effect of prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy on surgical site wound infection, hematoma, and haemorrhage in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma using the dichotomous method with a random or fixed‐effect model. The prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy subjects had a significantly lower surgical site wound infection (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.20–0.78, P = .007) in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma compared with total thyroidectomy. However, prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy did not show any significant difference in hematoma (OR, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.43–2.71, P = .87), and haemorrhage (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.26–1.97, P = .52) compared with total thyroidectomy in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma. The prophylactic central neck dissection following total thyroidectomy subjects had a significantly higher surgical site wound infection, and no significant difference in hematoma, and haemorrhage compared with total thyroidectomy in subjects with clinically node‐negative papillary thyroid carcinoma. The analysis of outcomes should be with caution because of the low number of studies in certain comparisons.